The Lebanese group Hezbollah has confirmed that its senior commander Fuad Shukr was killed in an Israeli attack in southern Beirut. The Israeli military issued a statement on Tuesday confirming that they had conducted a “precision strike” which resulted in Shukr’s death. According to Israeli sources, Shukr was responsible for a missile attack that killed 12 children who were playing football in Majdal Shams, located in the occupied Golan Heights over the weekend.
Hezbollah, which had previously claimed that Shukr had survived the attack, confirmed on Wednesday that “the great jihadist commander, brother Fuad Shukr (Hajj Mohsen) was present” in the building that was hit by “the Zionist enemy.” The group added that Shukr’s presence represented a “special strength for resistance” and announced that their leader, Hassan Nasrallah, would deliver a speech in conjunction with Shukr’s funeral on Thursday.
Shukr, also known as al-Hajj Mohsen, was born in Nabatieh, Baalbek in eastern Lebanon and was one of the founders of Hezbollah following Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982. According to the Israeli military, Shukr oversaw numerous attacks against the Israeli military and its former ally, the South Lebanon Army (SLA), over the following decade.
In addition to being wanted by Israel, Shukr was also sought by the United States. A posting on the U.S. government’s Rewards for Justice website offers a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to Shukr’s capture. He was designated as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” in 2019.
The Israeli attack targeted a densely populated area in the suburbs of Beirut, near the Haret Hreik neighborhood, which houses Hezbollah’s Shura Council, its central decision-making body. Lebanon’s Ministry of Health reported that three people, including two children, were killed and 74 were injured in the assault, which the Israeli military described as a “targeted assassination operation” against Shukr.
Al Jazeera reporter Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut, explained that the Israeli message was that this attack was their promised response to the incident in Majdal Shams, and that they did not wish to escalate further into armed confrontation with Hezbollah, who has vowed to retaliate against any form of attack from Israel.
In a televised statement on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remarked that Israel is facing “challenging times,” but is “prepared for all scenarios.” Previously, Ori Goldberg, a political commentator in Tel Aviv, stated to Al Jazeera that “a war with Lebanon might rally Israelis around the flag, but its consequences would be almost instantly catastrophic.”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attacks in Beirut and Tehran as a “dangerous escalation.” “The Secretary-General believes that the attacks we have seen in South Beirut and Tehran represent a dangerous escalation at a time when all efforts should instead lead to a ceasefire in Gaza,” said Guterres’ spokesperson Stephane Dujarric in a statement on Wednesday.